Maurice O'Connor acquired Coote Hall, Co. Roscommon from the Coote family for a price of 7,600 Pounds. We may well immagine the enormous pleasure which a sale of this kind must have given, coming so soon after the wholesale confiscations of properties. The transfer provided the occasion for this song of Carolan's. There are 3 quatrains of which the first is below:

Maurice O'Connor was the head, in Carolan's day, of the O'Connors of Offaly
In Tudor times their chief fortress was Daingean Uí Fáilghe
fortress of Offaly until 1556 when it was broken up with Offaly being renamed
Kings County and Daingean renamed Phillipstown. Maurice was living in
England and made a fortune at the English Bar. He had to become a Protestant
in order to practice law but his subsequent actions leave little room for doubt that
the conversion was not due to conviction but pure expediency.